[Antitubercular chemoprophylaxis after 20 years of its world-wide application]

The researches carried out on calves (1952--1953) and over 3000 guinea-pigs, rabbits and rats in the Forlanini Institute of Rome for five years, are remembered. The first clinical experiment on a group of 500 children exposed to family contagion (1955--1956) is also related. The links between INH-prophylaxis and anti-tuberculous immunity, and between INH-prophylaxis and vaccination with BCG are discussed. The clinical indications of this method among miners with pneumoconiosis, in the psychiatric institutions, and among patients subjected to long cortisone treatment are exposed. A short synthesis of the favorable results obtained in many countries everywhere is reported. Lastly the Author synthesizes the vast experiment carried out during this decade by I.U.A.T. on the remarkable efficacy of INH-prophylaxis among adults with fibrotic lung lesions in seven nations in Europe. The Author concludes the paper, affirming that chemoprophylaxis with isoniazid, after 20 years of application, has obtained the official chrism and can furnish, besides the BCG vaccine, a remarkable contribution to the control of tuberculosis in all countries of the world.